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The casual observer around San Francisco has likely seen billboards and vans advertising the end of the world on May 21st- only two weeks from today. You would think this would be an occasion for doom and gloom- but the billboards herald the event as “Good News”! Well, thank God we have been warned about the end of days by the fine folks over at Family Radio. But I really have a lot to cram in the next two weeks if I want to get a lot of living in before I’m immolated on the 21st.

Seriously. The Family Radio people should have expected some backlash. Backlash has come in the form of American Atheists, who have placed a large billboard at the main San Francisco entrance to the Bay Bridge. I applaud them for taking on the ludicrous end of world media blitz, but I cringe at the thought that we are presented with a pretty stark dichotomy- either you believe that the Bible reveals the date of the apocalypse, or you are an atheist. Is there room for any middle ground?

The Rapture You Know It's Nonsense

I think the idea that a magic algorithm is hidden within the Book of Revelation that reveals a specific date when true believers are spirited up to heaven and heathens are killed by a vengeful God is pretty ridiculous. I also think it is ridiculous to hold up this wacko church as representative of what is wrong with organized religion. I don’t believe that there should be no religion, or that believers are stupid. But I also think that talk of the rapture or the apocalypse is a giant waste of time, and that spending thousands of dollars on billboards when the same funds could be spent helping the needy is blasphemous. I believe in saner, smarter religion for sane, smart people.

So on May 21st, celebrate life, and the fact that God gave you a brain to understand logic and reason. I actually heard there should be some great end of the world parties that weekend…